118,112

29,871

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05/02/06

DLA ventures into Atlanta

DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary is set to venture into the Atlanta legal market. With 3,100 lawyers located in 22 countries and 58 offices throughout Asia, Europe and the U.S., the firm's office in Atlanta will be its 59th.

Already generating buzz in the real estate industry, the firm has leased about 45,000 square feet on two floors of One Atlantic Center, a landmark Midtown tower.

One of the largest law firms, DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary US LLP was recently ranked third nationally among the 100 most frequently hired securities litigation practices by Securities Law360. DLA Piper's litigation practice has more than 600 attorneys in the U.S. and 1,200 lawyers worldwide.

Linklaters salary increase
International law firm Linklaters has substantially raised its salary in a move to retain its mid-level associates.

Effective May 1, associates at the fourth-year level and up will receive 12% raises. Fourth-year attorneys, currently making $142,000 per year, will be earning $160,000. First-year associate salaries will move from $103,450 to slightly more than $108,500, while second-years will move from $118,469 to a little more than $126,609. Trainees will receive $56,612 up from the earlier $53,718.

The raise, supported by bonus and a benefits package, will also allow assistants to 'bank' accumulated paid leave for hitting billing targets. Other new benefits include emergency childcare and a concierge service, which will be open to everyone in the firm.

Having strict admission criteria, NAMWOLF admits only those minority-owned law firms that have a long history of representing major corporations and public entities. NAMWOLF was established in 2001 to encourage major corporations and public entities to utilize the services of minority-owned law firms. NAMWOLF also assists its members in developing strategic alliances and affiliations. Through these efforts, NAMWOLF helps ensure the long-term survival of minority and female-owned law firms.

COOL THREAD OF THE DAY

rainmaking

ghstbuster555: Anyone out there have any advice on how to start out cultivating clients for young attorneys?

It seems to me that it is the job of young associates to learn the law, and learn the business first and then learn how to get it....but what do i know?

rbrown: i hate the cliches, but it's true that your first clients are the partners. why reinvent the wheel. you get experience, and eventually, in an ideal practice, new work gets filtered down to you.

believe me, no one cares about having a first year rainmaker. "from the hip" is a movie only.

Ghstbuster555: Hilarious...i haven't thought about that movie in years.....judd nelson at his finest...also a classic cheesy movie cover to boot....

i'm not out to grease someone's palm or any junk like that....just trying to make a good impression.....would hate to be one of the annoying associates as referenced in that other line of posts....

Lothario: Networking! This is still the word of the new millennium. Go to Young Lawyers events, local bar events, or other functions, get involved in a charity or community activity, coach little league, etc.

I think you are a little off in suggesting that you can put off rainmaking. You need to start planting seeds that will grow and bear fruit in years to come. You need to get out and meet people in addition to learning "the law" and "the business." Essentially, they are all one and the same thing. Don't meet people with the idea of getting their business. Meet them with the object of actually getting to know what they do, how they can help you, and how you can help them. Business will grow out of this.

Having said all that, I apologise for sounding preachy. I also happen to be a shitty rainmaker, so take my words for what they are worth.

LargeFeet: When I was a first year associate and the grunt on each deal, I was given this good advice. Find the client's in house person who is a grunt, too. Take that person to lunch or take them to a ball game or event. Some day, I would be a higher level attorney and - what do you know - the client grunt would be a higher up at a client. That actually worked well for me. I have a million plus book of business and I started building it as a first year by learning to take time to make friends with clients along the way.

If you are going to do community service work, find something you love so that you can really contribute - if you are just showing up at the meetings to logs some hours as a do-gooder, the others will know and you will not develop the friendships that turn into clients or referral sources some day.

Ghstbuster555: i like that suggestion a lot......that makes total sense to me...and seems perfectly reasonable.....

i will have a reasonable marketing/client development account... lets just hope i can find some eagles fans....

I agree with the networking post as well, and i'm sold on being in the YLD and various related items....my sister is an attorney and i watched her rise through the ranks accordingly by getting involved in those areas.....

anyone have any horror stories about the rainmaking process? what have you done wrong?

BullRunner: This really is a difficult question to answer, and the answer depends totally on what kind of clients you are looking for - who is your ideal client?

For PI guys the ideal client is someone who is seriously maimed, killed or even worse, left in a paralyzed state for the rest of their life. For corporate business types, the ideal client is obviously not injured victims, but businesses. and so on.. . . SO the first question you have to ask and answer for yourself is who do you want to retain your services.

Once that's answered there are many different ways of going about it. There are many books, and probably thousands of articles, a fraction of which I have read about this topic, none of which work. What it all boils down to is that you have to figure it out yourself, because unfortunately there is no set, exacting course for you to follow.

Trust me, I know. I've been out for 4+ years and since day one I've been trying to figure out how to get more of my own business so I could stop working for some jerk partner and do my own stuff. Very tough, especially given the state of our profession, being so oversaturated and all.

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